UN chief and Security Council strongly condemn assassination of top Lebanese army commander

The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the assassination of a top army commander in Lebanon, calling it an attempt to destabilize the armed forces.

In separate statements on Wednesday, the U.N.'s most powerful body and its chief executive said the killing of Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj, who had been tipped as the likely next head of the army, was an attempt to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

They also called for presidential elections to be held without delay.

The Lebanese president's office has been vacant since Nov. 23, when Emile Lahoud's term ended.

Hajj's boss, army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman, has emerged as a possible consensus candidate for the presidency. But political wrangling has held up his election, which would require a constitutional amendment because currently a sitting army commander is barred from the post.

The Security Council condemned the killing of Hajj "in the strongest terms" and strongly condemned the attempt "to destabilize Lebanese institutions, in this particular case the Lebanese Armed Forces." The council reiterated its condemnation of all targeted assassinations in Lebanon.

Ban, the U.N. chief, "was outraged" at the attack and "strongly condemns this act of violence and terror on the Lebanese Armed Forces, a symbol of Lebanon's sovereignty," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

"The secretary-general calls on the Lebanese for calm and restraint at this critical juncture in their history," Okabe said. "Their political leaders must exert every possible effort to resolve differences and arrive at a solution for an immediate presidential election, without conditionality, in accordance with constitutional rules."

The Security Council underlined "that no attempt to destabilize Lebanon should prevent the holding, without delay, of a free and fair presidential election in conformity with Lebanese constitutional rules, without any foreign interference or influence, and with full respect for democratic institutions."

It backed Ban's efforts to establish a special tribunal for Lebanon "in a timely manner, as a means to put an end to impunity in Lebanon and deter further assassinations."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said "these terrorists are holding not only the lives of Lebanese leaders at risk ... but even democracy itself is being threatened in Lebanon by these terrorists."

The presidential statement adopted by the council was the second in two days focusing on Lebanon.

On Tuesday, the council stressed its "deep concern at the repeated postponements of the presidential election" and reiterated its call for the election to be held without delay.

It commended the role of the democratically elected government and the Lebanese Armed Forces in carrying out their responsibilities in the period until the election takes place and urged all parties to exercise restraint and engage in talks to prevent further deterioration of the situation in the troubled Mideast nation.